Nokia tops smartphone sale chart in Q4

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: By shipping 20.8 million smartphones worldwide in the most recent quarter, Nokia increased its share of the global smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2009, claiming 37% of the market share. The result has been attributed to stronger consumer demand and a stream of attractive new 3G models.

With the market growing by 30% in Q4 and the total shipments reaching 53 million units, Nokia itself grew 38% on-year, taking its market share to 39.2%. RIM occupied the second place by raising its unit shipments to 10.7 million from 7.6 million, giving it a 20.2% Q4 market share. Apple closed the gap on second-placed RIM in market-share terms in Q4, shipping 8.7 million iPhones, almost double the 4.4 million it shipped in the year-ago quarter, or 16.4% of the total.

According to Neil Mawston, director at Strategy Analytics, the smartphone market will become ultra-competitive in 2010 after the entry of emerging players like Dell and Huawei which are strengthening their device portfolios and courting major operators.